Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, Pas de Calais, France

CABARET-ROUGE BRITISH CEMETERY

Souchez

Pas de Calais

France

General Directions: Souchez is a village 3.5 kilometres north of Arras on the main road to Bethune. The cemetery is about 1.5 kilometres south of the village on the west side of the D937 Arras-Bethune Road.

On 26 September 1915, Souchez was taken from the Germans by French troops, who handed the sector over to Commonwealth forces the following March. The village was completely destroyed. The "Cabaret Rouge" was a house on the main road about 1 kilometre south of the village, at a place called Le Corroy, near the cemetery. On the east side, opposite the cemetery, were dugouts used as battalion headquarters in 1916. The communication trenches ended here, including a very long one named from the Cabaret. The cemetery was begun by Commonwealth troops in March 1916, used until August 1917 (largely by the 47th (London) Division and the Canadian Corps) and - at intervals - until September 1918; these original burials are in Plots I to V inclusive. It was greatly enlarged after the Armistice when more than 7,000 graves were brought in from the battlefields of Arras and from 103 other burial grounds in the Nord and the Pas-de-Calais.

On 25 May 2000, the remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier were entrusted to Canada at a ceremony held at the Vimy Memorial, France. The remains had been exhumed by staff of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission from Cabaret-Rouge British Cemetery, Souchez, Plot 8, Row E, Grave 7. The remains were laid to rest within the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, in a sarcophagus placed at the foot of the National War Memorial, Confederation Square, Ottawa, Canada.

Shot at Dawn: The following are commemorated on special memorials within the cemetery: Lance Corporal P. Sands, 1st Bn. Royal Irish Rifles, executed for desertion 15/09/1915, special memorial 41, originally buried in Fleurbaix Churchyard, his grave is now lost. Private J. Wishard, 7th Bn. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, executed for desertion 15/06/1917, special memorial 51, originally buried in Merris Churchyard, his grave is now lost.

Another view of this cemetery

Casualty Details: UK 6725, Canada 749, Australia 116, New Zealand 7, South Africa 43, India 15, Germany 4, Total Burials: 7659